WESTBURY Town Council has agreed to support a campaign group in Storridge Road, The Ham and Hawkeridge Park by objecting again to plans for 200 dwellings.
Wiltshire councillor Carole King has also called-in the application for further scrutiny.
During a highways, planning and development meeting of Westbury Town Council on Monday 19th August councillors agreed to object to plans submitted by Gladman Developments for 200 houses off Storridge Road, behind Hawkeridge Park; the same application that was refused in 2018 by Wiltshire Council.
Councillors objected on the same grounds used during the last consultation period. They also added that new developments in close proximity to the site have been added to the area, or approved for the area, which will further increase the pressure on Station Road. They say that the development also does not help to combat air quality levels in Westbury by providing valuable green spaces, sustainable transport or planting and there is currently no infrastructure in the town to accommodate the 200 new houses.
Cllr Carole King said “This application was first brought to Wiltshire Council in 2017 and notwithstanding the forceful arguments put forward by the residents surrounding the site, Wiltshire Council turned it down with eight solid reasons.
“I’ve made a brief comparison between those reasons and the updates given by the applicant and can see little that has changed from a Wiltshire Council prospective or by way of a substantial and reasoned update from the proposed developer.
“The residents have made a closer inspection of the plans, having been very involved in the previous one, and say they can see very little change in the application.
“I don’t mean to sound cynical, but the second application was put in a few days before the end of the year’s grace period which means it didn’t cost them anything to re-submit this application.
“I would prefer to see at least one field’s space between any residential community and an industrial estate and I suspect that the parties who signed the Section 52 agreement in September 1988 felt the same!
“I called this application in because I could not see any material change in this second attempt and the first two arguments by Wiltshire Council of land supply and settlement boundary are still in place, so it should mean that this application is turned down again.
“I felt that this application would not serve anyone’s interests if it was determined centrally.”
Campaigner and resident of the area, Jim Marley, spoke at the recent highways, planning and development meeting and said, “There is fundamentally no difference in the application itself.
“Nothing has changed, not only within the application, but from within the policy of Wiltshire’s Core Strategy as well. The pasture of land is still outside of the core strategy in terms of the settlement area. There is also a five-year land supply that has actually been renewed in the past week or so at Wiltshire Council.
“The application doesn’t mitigate any of the eight refusal reasons given last year, so I am asking Westbury Town Council to support our community once again and object.”
As the land falls in the Heywood Parish, Westbury Town Council is asked for its comment as a consultee, as they are the neighbouring parish.
Cllr Jane Russ said, “I am completely astounded that they have bothered to try and do this again with no meaningful alterations. Nothing whatsoever has changed, there is still an issue of roads, drains, sewage and infrastructure. There must be a lot of money in this if they are keeping at it in this kind of way.”
To view the plans or to make a comment use the reference code 19/06389/OUT on the Wiltshire Council planning portal.
Pictured: cllr Carole King and local campaigners Janet Parker, Jim Marley and Marj Buckland.
